Director: Peter Landesman
Cast: James Badge Dale, Zac Effron, Marcia Gay Harden, Billy Bob Thornton, David Harbour, Colin Hanks and Paul Giamatti
Rating: ***1/2
You really don’t know how much of you see in “Parkland” that recounts events soon after the assassination of former American president John F. Kennedy is historically accurate because most of it is based on a conspiracy. But what you can see and laud is the attempt to capture the efforts made to save Kennedy by people close to him, including those at the hospital, minutes after he was shot. This tale from the history is so riveting that it will leave you in awe, more or less.
On Nov 23, 1963 President and Mrs. Kennedy arrive in Texas, Dallas and embark on their fateful motorcade toward Dealey Plaza, when around half past noon, Kennedy is shot by a sniper. After that, the action shifts to the Emergency Room of Parkland hospital, where a group unprepared doctors lead by Jim Carico (Zac Effron) and Malcolm Perry (Colin Hanks) are forced to attend to the President’s almost lifeless body. At around 1 pm, Kennedy is pronounced dead.
It’s interesting to see how several people were swept up in the shooting and its aftermath, providing different perspective to the same event narrated through the eyes of three key characters. While one aspect of the film focuses on the impact such an incident can have on the lives of people closely associated with it, the other side is about the investigation by FBI that followed.
The problem with Parkland is that it neither tries to revisit the shooting of Kennedy in gory details nor solely focus on the investigation. It attempts to capture only the plight of the people who desperately struggled to save Kennedy even when he was brought to the room with pieces of skull and brain tissues literally separated from his body. Therefore, it never shows how exactly was Kennedy shot or who actually shot him, although we do get to see a scene that shows us, not in detail though, how the President was shot when the FBI procured the 8mm video tape from Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti), who filmed the shooting.
How much of accuracy will convince you to believe in a story, any story, not necessarily the JFK shooting? Even if a story claims to be 100% percent authentic there is no proof to validate it, isn’t it? Therefore, there is absolutely no guarantee about the accuracy of any story from the history. You will appreciate “Parkland” only if you let go of the urge to be convinced and instead watch the film from the perspective of the characters involved in it, their struggle, panic and expectations.
From the perspective of the doctors who operated on Kennedy, we understand the expectations people had on them while handing over the almost lifeless body of the President. Two scenes that stand out in the film are when Kennedy is brought into the operating room, the bewildered look of Effron’s face to come to terms with the fact that he is going to operate on the most important American and as he frantically pumps his heart in desperation even after he is pronounced dead.
You see the struggle of Kennedy’s aides from the time of the shooting till the last minute to save him, to air lift his body in a coffin and give him a grand send off. It’s a great film that allows you to study the characters and their immediate reaction to news that could shake anyone up from the inside. From the doctors at Parkland to the Texas county police who wouldn’t allow the transportation of the body until an autopsy is performed as per the state’s law, it’s the characters we sympathize for.
“Parkland” may not be a jaw-dropping retelling of the JFK incident, but definitely is powerfully riveting even with flaws plentiful.